Having watched Donald Trump for several months, I began to wonder about the psychological make-up of the candidate.
Why did he go out of his way to alienate not only his opponents but members of the press? Why was he so unabashedly narcissistic? Is he mentally stable enough to be the leader of the free world? And what are the broader implications about whom we select to run for high office in this country?
Before answering these questions, some historical context is in order.
In the 1968 presidential election , we learned what happens when a candidate’s medical records become public knowledge.
George McGovern, the senator from South Dakota, won the Democratic nomination.
He chose Sen. Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his running mate. Between 1960 and 1966, Eagleton had entered a hospital three times for “physical and nervous exhaustion” and on two occasions he received “shock therapy.”
Acting under pressure, McGovern asked Eagleton to step down which he did.
Was this a fair and rational decision?
A Time magazine poll showed that 77 percent of the voters said that Eagleton’s medical condition would not affect their vote. Add to this, the fact that Missourians re-elected Eagleton in 1974 with 60 percent of the vote and once again in 1980. These voters were sophisticated enough to judge the Senator on his performance. In
2007, Eagleton passed away.
His dying wishes were “to go forth in love and peace — be kind to dogs — and vote Democratic.”
Noble sentiments, all!
The classic case of someone reaching the pinnacle of power while at the same time being deeply disturbed is that of Richard Nixon.
In “Nixon: A Psychobiography,” Volkan, Itzkowitz and Dodd maintain that the president was narcissistic and paranoid. He utilized power ruthlessly, distrusted those around him, and was trapped by behavior leading to his own downfall. Nixon was a tragic hero and his tragic flaw was his paranoia.
How else can one explain the Watergate break in and his collusion in the cover-up and “dirty tricks?”
All of these activities were unnecessary since in the election of 1972 Nixon won in an historic landslide. McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Ultimately, as we all know, Nixon had Articles of Impeachment brought against him and he resigned the presidency.
He was the only president in our history to do so. His many accomplishments — “détente” with the Soviet Union, major strides in desegregation, and opening the door to communication with Communist China — are overshadowed by his public embarrassments.
What in Nixon’s past led to such self-destructive consequences?
His father, Frank Nixon, was an angry man who abused his five sons, sometimes beating them.
His mother, Hannah, was a devout Quaker, reserved and unemotional. Richard Nixon was born in 1913, a particularly tense time in the Nixon household.
Frank uprooted Hannah from her Quaker community and tight knit family in Whittier, Calif.
They settled in Yorba Linda where Frank bought a lemon orchard. It was a financial failure and Hannah became anxious and depressed. One can argue that many families undergo similar experiences and the children do not grow up pathologically disturbed. Why then single out Nixon?
The answer lies in the publication of a new book by Bob Woodward called “The Last of the President’s Men.”
It is the story of Alexander Butterworth, a man who was part of the inner sanctum in the White House.
This scholarly work drives the final nails into the coffin offering proof that Nixon suffered from paranoia. I cite three examples.
First, Nixon had Butterworth install a secret recording system in the White House. These recorded conversations were turned over to the
Senate Watergate Committee implicating the president in the “obstruction of justice” and leading to his resignation on Aug. 9, 1974.
This is one more example of Nixon’s paranoia leading to his political demise.
Second, Nixon claimed that the bombing of North Vietnam was “very effective.”
Yet in a note to Henry Kissenger, he categorically stated that the effect of the bombing was “zilch.”
Woodward explains the discrepancy as follows. Nixon knew that the bombing was politically popular and that its continuation would ensure his election. Who knows the number of Americans, Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians who died so that the 37th president might remain in office?
Third, we have the president’s “enemies list” consisting of Democratic politicians, members of the media, and anti-war activists. The official purpose of the list, according to John Dean, the president’s lawyer, was to “screw” those who opposed Nixon.
The president wanted his enemies to have their tax returns scrutinized by the IRS and to use other federal agencies to punish them. How very Machiavellian!
Michiko Kakutani who wrote the New York Times review of the Woodward book concludes that Nixon was a “brooding, duplicitous despot, obsessed with…score-settling and not the least bit hesitant about lying to the public and breaking the law.” Our democracy is fragile and we are fortunate to have survived the assault of Nixon’s toxic eight years in office.
And now to the questions raised earlier about Donald Trump. Oliver Burkeman writing in the Guardian discusses “Trump’s missing soul anxieties, insecurities, [and] feelings of inadequacy.”
Can Trump with all his success in the business world and his self assuredness be covering for a sense of inferiority and, if so, where did it stem from?
Anyone who has studied psychology should understand that oft-times behavior which, on the surface, makes no sense, has an interior logic.
Case in point. A school child constantly gets in trouble and no amount of pressure from parents and teachers alters the behavior.
That’s because the child receives a reward…a payoff… from continuing to misbehave. One might conjecture that the child is seeking attention and even negative recognition is better than none.
So what in Trump’s background fits this theory? It may have something to do with his father’s success as a real estate mogul.
Possibly Trump imbibed the message that the only measure of self-worth was entrepreneurial success. There may also be a competition between father and son which all the high rise buildings, casinos and golf courses that “the Donald” builds cannot fill the emotional void formed in childhood.
Stephanie Marsh writing in Psychology Today looked at the characteristics of narcissistic behavior.
Among them she found a grandiose sense of self-importance, a lack of empathy and a super sensitivity to criticism.
Even the staunchest Trump supporter would have to admit that these descriptors fit their hero.
These sycophants should ask themselves — Would they be proud of their children if they continuously boasted about their academic success as Trump does when discussing his grades at Wharton?
Would we encourage our children to insult others based on their physical appearance as Trump did with Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul?
We cannot continue to give Trump a pass on such boorish behavior!
Finally, Forbes magazine published an article titled “Donald Trump: A Man With An Inferiority Complex?”
It describes Trump as a man “plagued”…a man who exhibits … [a] “dynamic born of angst,
Inferiority and insecurity. The gentleman protests his greatness too much.”
There are lessons to be learned from this narrative. America cannot afford to choose as its leaders men who are, at best, neurotic and, at worst, borderline psychotic.
We must learn the symptoms of mental illness and reject candidates who manifest them.
Let this, then, be a cautionary tale!
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
